


1987

by spritzerr



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BECAUSE KEITH FELL OFF THE BIKE, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Keith (Voltron) Is Trying, Kissing, Lance (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, SO MUCH FLUFF, a lot of - Freeform, boyfriend??, how to tag, to ride this bike
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26328412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spritzerr/pseuds/spritzerr
Summary: Just two teenagers enjoying the remaining days of their childhood. They’re pretty much in love, lots of kissing and cuddles.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	1987

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this little thing yesterday, all in one day  
> nostalgia is strong in this one omg  
> enjoy!!

Lance’s childhood had always been the very best, he wouldn’t bother asking for more, because he’d never actually wanted it. Living in Florida was one of the main advantages of his life, being _this_ close to the ocean reminded him of his early days in Varadero, Cuba. He moved to America when his parents decided it’s no longer okay to be on that island, as eighties there weren’t the easiest, speaking gently. Still, he quickly realized that this decision was the best one in his entire life.

There was this one particular boy he met when he started his third grade in primary school. He was the only person in the entire building (not counting Pidge and Hunk), who wasn’t making fun of Lance for not having a perfect English and accent. Lance’s older sister, Veronica, was telling him that it won’t be the easiest experience, but Lance’s playboy persona handled it rather well. He brushed off everyone, even if it wasn’t simple at first. With the help of Keith, because that was this boy’s name, everything was possible to achieve for Lance. They grew attached quickly, the youngest Serrano became the regular guest in his house.

The year of 1987 was the craziest in Lance’s whole life. A freshman grade in high school didn’t seem to be easy at all, although it all started sorting out in the middle of the second semester. But Lance, deeply in his heart, still was the same kid he’d been before, nothing changed. During the summer, which was close to an end, almost two weeks until sophomore would start.

Still, Lance had a plan.

Because, stating one, obvious fact. Lance had always been the best in any kind of sports or just simply physical activity. The bike and a skateboard were by his side all the time, maybe not together, but he was having one of those around whenever it was needed. He managed to teach Hunk how to ride a bike only a week after he moved to Florida, which was quite an achievement, as nobody could do this before him. Also Pidge, she’s been the most famous person in the skatepark (after Lance, of course) since the fifth grade, meaning more than four years at that time.

But Keith, Keith was unfortunately a completely different story. He always denied when Lance requested riding a bike together, or even teaching him. Keith would say that he didn’t have time for it, even though he really had _too much_ time. He couldn’t just spend every second of every day with his older brother, Takashi. It took Lance over a year to convince his friend to ride at the back of the bike with him, but he never agreed to doing it all by himself. Lance insisted that Keith just couldn’t do it, but he always kept saying he could, even if his actions said otherwise.

But it was August then, Lance was standing in front of Keith’s house’s door, waiting for his friend to come out. He showed up before, wearing his pajamas and _rocking_ the bed hair, even if Lance made yet another comment about him growing out a mullet. It was rather a popular hairstyle at the time, but Lance didn’t see it at all. It was weird and he couldn’t understand why anyone would like to have this kind of crap on their head. Still, Keith would look amazing in any kind of hairstyle, so it didn’t really matter to Lance. He would think he’s the prettiest even if his mullet would turn out to be the worst one ever, worse than his dad’s.

Keith went out and Lance almost lost his breath and tripped on his own shoelaces. As expected, Keith looked more than _good_ , even more than _perfect._ Lance’s high self esteem usually telling him that _he_ was the prettiest guy now started to seriously doubt all of those. He wore a far too big, nylon jacket with neon pink, blue and gray stripes, more like blocks of colors. It was definitely Takashi’s, but Keith rocked it way better. He also had black Adidas basketball shorts, as he was saying that “his legs never get cold” or some other bullshit. It obviously wasn’t true, but Lance didn’t feel like arguing.

It was way better when Keith was going out, wearing shorts, in the middle of autumn, winter almost, saying that he was completely fine and warm, which always passed after… twenty minutes? Then Lance would suggest coming to his house, when they always listened to Emanuela complaining about her youngest son who let his friend go out like this. Lance would shout back, blaming Keith, because it really was, in fact, his idea after all. The shorter kid always ended up wearing his friend’s warm and cozy sweatpants. He would never admit it, but he had a separate shelf in his closet just for Lance’s pants, as he’s got at least ten pairs of them. Lance didn’t know about it, but he didn’t mind his clothing disappear, if it meant Keith would be warm enough.

“Keith!” Lance couldn’t wait until he came down the stairs, so instead he ran to him and hugged him tightly. The PDA between these two had always been rather intense, they could walk down the street holding hands despite all the weird glances they were receiving, especially when they got older than twelve. Still, neither of them cared about that, because they could achieve everything as long as they were near each other.

They were slowly walking to the big square located near the skatepark, but not everyone knew that it actually existed. Only people who were obsessed with using any kind of device like a bike knew, so you could mainly see Lance, Hunk and Pidge hanging out right there. Sometimes Keith, but he was always sitting on the bench, watching his friends in awe.

He could say he admired them all, because it was like a black magic for him to learn how to use these things they’ve been on. He _wanted_ to know how to do it, but he tried it once with Takashi and promised himself it will never happen again. The amount of times he’d fallen off the bike was truly enormous, even Keith’s brother couldn’t stop laughing after the tenth time. Not many high schoolers couldn’t ride a bike, especially in a small town like this one they were living in, where bikes were one of the best way to move around.

“Lance, I know what you’re planning, but I’m not letting you,” he said while being dragged to the square. Lance had a secret place there where he always hid his bike from being stolen. It wasn’t that hard to notice, actually, but judging by the amount of people passing through (four or five, at best, each day) it was being unnoticed and hidden perfectly.

“Of course you’re not,” Lance placed one of his hands on Keith’s waist, pulling him closer and glancing at a few girls from their school, who happened to be walking to the mall. Keith cringed at the way they looked at him and Lance, because he could clearly see something shaped as jealousy, or at least something similar to that. Keith knew he was lucky being this close to Lance, as almost all people at school were heavily crushing on him, most of them silently, but Keith knew.

“But, come on!” Lance exclaimed, throwing his free fist in the air. “I didn’t invite Pidge and Hunk, because I knew you wouldn’t even go with me then. But, Keith, it’ll be nice! I’m not like Takashi, I’ll never laugh at you!” This was true, Lance would never do such a thing, knowing how insecure Keith is, especially about the stuff he just couldn’t do right. “Besides, it would be super stupid of you if you went home, because we’re almost on the square!”

The place was awesome, surrounded by trees from every possible angle. Lance even brought a few lanterns and candles from home, Veronica gave them to him, because she didn’t think all of those matched her room’s aesthetic, whatever it was. Lance always had an old Marco’s lighter in order to light up the candles whenever he was sitting there with friends, especially when it was getting dark. He could never waste them and leave them lit up for the whole night. Candles weren’t really expensive, but still, Lance didn’t plan on spending his own money for them often.

Lance grabbed his bike and presented it to Keith as if it was his best item ever. It was actually built from a bunch of trash by Lance, Marco and their father, with a little help from Keith, who knew a bit about this kind of stuff, as his father was a mechanic, so he spent a lot of time in the garage. The bike itself was definitely the weirdest one you would ever happen to see. The frame was all steel colored, with a blue paint peeling off, because it surely wasn’t made to be used to paint metal, but Lance didn’t seem to care about that. The handlebar was just a usual metal pipe painted black with weird, soft sponge-like material on the handles. Lance found it somewhere at home and then sewn the pieces together. The whole construction was weirdly light, making it really easy to ride and control, which was definitely an advantage to Lance.

“Sit,” he ordered, pointing at the seat. Keith glanced at him like he completely lost his mind. There was _no way_ he was going to ride this ungodly thing, it looked like it was going to break any second from then.

“You’re crazy!” He yelled, stepping back slightly, being out of Lance’s reach. He knew he wouldn’t resist his friend’s charm for long, but he decided to fight back as long as possible. “I’m _not_ getting on this thing, it doesn’t look stable _at all_!” 

“Oh, come on! Keith, didn’t think you’re _this_ boring!” Lance came closer to Keith, almost touching their noses together. He knew they could act however they wanted, as nobody was watching them. Not that they couldn’t do this in front of Pidge and Hunk, because they simply didn’t care. As long as Keith and Lance were happy, so were they friends.

Keith could feel the tension growing stronger with each breath, to the point when Lance gently pressed his lips to Keith’s. It only lasted for a few seconds, but the sweet feeling was still strong. At the moment Lance kissed him for the first time, Keith knew he was doomed and this time only proved him right. He could no longer deny, as Lance was just making it impossible.

“Fine,” he answered, trying to position himself in the right way. The weight of the bike under his body felt weird and he didn’t even place his feet on the pedals. “Why isn’t it standing!?” He cried out, trying not to swear, but it was almost impossible. His whole body was shaking and he was still standing on the ground, trying to just _hold_ the bike before it fell down.

“You have to hold the handles tighter, like this,” Lance placed his hands on top of Keith’s, tightening his fingers on the handlebar. Keith quietly melted under his friend’s touch and did everything as he was told. Lance’s influence was _impossible_ , but Keith didn’t mind it at all. “Now, place your right foot on the pedal. Yeah, perfect! And all you need to do is to push yourself using your left foot, then place it on the other pedal, and voilà! You’re riding!” Lance explained and it really sounded like a simple thing. But as soon as Keith did everything, he none too soon supported himself from falling down.

“It isn’t working!” He whined, tightening his fingers a bit more. He _knew_ it wasn’t going to be easy, but now it was starting to be the real hell. _Nothing_ could make him stay balanced, his body felt weak, like he had no control over it. “The handlebar is _loose_! It’s fidgeting all the time!” He kept shouting at Lance’s face, who wasn’t even offended. What more, he was smiling widely, ready to answer.

“You need to build up the speed quicker, then you won’t feel so unbalanced. Come on,” he waited until Keith placed his feet in the right position again, then came to him and placed one of his palms on Keith’s back. The nylon jacket couldn’t protect him from feeling Lance’s warmth and Keith had never been this grateful for wearing light clothes. “You can move now, I’m holding you,” Lance encouraged him softly, standing right by his side.

It felt good, truly. With this kind of support Keith finally didn’t feel this weird force dragging him down to the ground, instead, it was almost like flying. Similar to riding Takashi’s motorcycle, but now the speed had to be built up by _Keith_ specifically, which only made it all better. Lance was doing an incredible job supporting him, even though he wasn’t holding him very tightly, just preventing him from falling, but this was definitely enough.

“It was good, right?” Lance said after they were finished doing the second circle around the square. Keith’s smile made him lose it all, as always, because Keith could be anything, but his smile was the best thing in the entire world. “You did great,” Lance placed his hand on Keith’s thigh, giving him some more of his own warmth, knowing that it was only a matter of time when he’ll get colder, and Lance didn’t want that. He softly kissed Keith’s jaw. It felt like a butterfly, lighter than any other kind of affection before, but Keith loved it the same as he loved Lance, so a _lot_.

“Do you need a break? We haven’t been here for long, but I know how tiring learning is,” he asked, making sure that Keith is feeling well. He remembered learning this stuff back in Cuba, when he would get dead tired after about ten minutes of riding, so Keith wasn’t doing that bad after all. “Come, let’s sit,” Lance supported Keith with both of his arms, just in case, even if he silently said that he was fine. Lance knew he would never lie, but _just in case_ , because he believed it was better to be safe than sorry, especially if it came to Keith.

“You’re doing better than I did when I was learning,” Lance said sincerely, remembering his own struggles and Marco laughing at him hysterically.

“You were six, plus, I bet there wasn’t as much yelling,” Keith chuckled, recalling how he’d been shouting for the past thirty minutes. It was funny after that time, more than Keith thought it would be. “I’m doing fine, because I’ve got the best teacher, right?” He complimented, leaning heavily on Lance’s shoulder.

“Hell yeah, of course,” he laughed, catching the subtle flirting they would always use, especially in public. It was funny to both of them, less to all the people they were passing by, but they didn’t care about their opinions. “And yeah, I was six and there was _no_ yelling, more laughing from my siblings, but we don’t talk about it,” after he said that, a single thought invaded his brain and refused to leave it. Lance fought with himself for a solid minute whether he should say it or not, but he eventually gave up. There was no one around, and even if there was, they all could do nothing to him and Keith. “Hey, has anyone ever told you how pretty you look in the sunset?” He asked, serious as never before, brushing Keith’s bangs off of his forehead in order to create a room to press a tender kiss to it.

“A certain someone tends to tell me every damn day,” Keith answered, slugging closer into the crook of Lance’s neck. He couldn’t believe he was blessed with such a cute human, probably the best one on the whole planet Earth.

“Then come,” Lance switched his hand’s position, so now it was resting on the back of Keith’s neck, slightly pulling him closer.

Their lips met and Keith’s imaginary heaven came on Earth right there and then. Lance reminded him of everything good, the warm nights when they could spend countless hours staring at the stars and talking about silly stuff, hot days during the summer break when nobody was judging them, every day in Lance’s house, trying to steal his siblings’ food. Lance’s lips were sweet, just like oranges and strawberries all covered in honey. That was what happiness felt like to Keith and he never wanted to change it.

They couldn’t break the kiss even if neither of them could breathe anymore. Being close was like an addiction, but a good one, providing only a bunch of advantages. Being close to Lance made Keith a better person, even his brother could see it. Keith didn’t want to leave Lance at all, but it was the healthiest he’d ever been. Lance was Keith’s stability, making him learn a lot, letting him see his own flaws and accepting them, something he couldn’t do before.

“Okay,” Lance breathed out, now holding Keith’s hand. “Let’s go practice some more, it’s getting dark,” he stood up, then helped Keith and they both walked to the bike, lying on the ground a few feet away. “I’ve got an idea. You’ll be trying to ride on your own,” as soon as he said that, he turned around only to see the frightened look on Keith’s face, his eyes widened in fear. “No, hey, don’t look at me like that! It’s going to be okay, you’ve got this,” he put on this smile, _this one fucking smile_ Keith just couldn’t say ‘no’ to.

And Keith has really got this. This balance was now great, if not _really good_ , brilliant, as Lance would say. His body got used to the new position and the little weight of the bike, making him look like he was made to ride this particular one. The only thing that seemed to be a problem were pedals, because they were a bit too low for Keith’s liking, but he blamed it on his shortness. Still, it was rather okay, he even managed to do a few quick stops and turn-arounds, but they were far away from what Lance was able to achieve on the bike.

But Lance didn’t think about himself then. All he could think about was Keith and the way he moved, the way his face was glowing with a pretty little smile plastered to it, the way he was laughing softly when he managed to suddenly stop right in front of Lance’s feet. Learning how to ride a bike at the age of fifteen would be embarrassing, but both of them didn’t mind it anymore. Keith enjoyed it, now guilty that he didn’t agree on trying it earlier. Lance felt proud of him, because, wow, this boy was catching up on it quickly, quicker than Lance thought he would. There was nothing that could go wrong.

Well, _almost._

Lance forgot to tell him that he had to be _very_ aware of the surface under the wheels, because there were plenty of rocks lying on the square, because all of the friends were too lazy to take their time and actually clean it all up. So, Lance didn’t tell Keith about that, forgetting about another thing as well. Keith tended to be overly excited to the point he stopped seeing anything around, just like that time. It ended up with riding _right_ to face the biggest rock. Lance’s stomach flipped unpleasantly while he was frozen in place, watching Keith almost doing a front flip and landing on the ground with a groan.

“You okay!?” Lance asked, panic growing in his voice second after second. He ran towards Keith, who was sitting on the hard surface, a little string of blood going down from his knee. “Jesus, I’m sorry, I didn’t think this through. Come on, let’s wipe it off,” he searched his bag, finding tissues and some water. The cut wasn’t big, but the scratching was somehow intense, a bruise slowly forming. Lance poured all the water on the injury, cringing at the way Keith groaned.

“Hey, let’s do this instead,” Lance said, after a few seconds of silence and cleaning Keith up. “My mom always did it when some of us fell down or just had some injury. She said it’s always working to make you feel better,” he leaned down, kissing Keith’s knee just above the scratch. It may have not taken all the pain away, but was definitely distracting enough to make Keith get completely lost in Lance’s eyes.

“Kissing it better, huh?” He asked, moving slightly, so now they were sitting side by side again. “Can’t lie, I liked it,” he added, reaching out to grab Lance’s hand. He still hadn’t got over the fact that it fitted so well in his own, just like they were meant to be. That was what Keith loved to believe, that him and Lance were soulmates, signed to be together by the stars, by the Universe.

They were only fifteen, having their whole lives to live, but they were sure they would like to go on together. Pidge and Hunk were sure about that, probably more than Keith and Lance themselves. Their bond could be seen by anyone, no need to look closely, they were just spreading the love everywhere they went.

“Hey,” Lance whispered, leaning down and putting his forehead on Keith’s. He wished this summer was never-ending, because that was exactly what he wanted to do. Sit down with Keith, watch the sunset with Keith, ride a bike with Keith, walk around the town with Keith, annoy his siblings and Takashi with Keith. Just enjoy their teenage years, all with Keith, because Keith has been the best part of Lance’s life since he met him. He knew he would be incomplete without Keith, it would be like getting a part of him torn apart and he didn’t even bother to think about it for long.

They kissed once again, the passion stronger than anytime before. It started as kind of clumsy, their teeth bumping together, but eventually Keith turned his head, adjusting to make the feeling better. It was soft, Lance’s lips gentle, reminding Keith of cotton candy, the honey flavored one they had when Lance’s mother took them to the fair when they were thirteen.

Lance’s hands were tracing Keith’s forearms, unconsciously drawing circles on them. He switched to his neck, his waist, holding him the tightest he could, showing Keith that he can feel safe in his arms. He could feel the little goosebumps, from all the emotions Keith was feeling as well as the slightly cold wind that started blowing on them. It was dark, only a few candles lit up, making the atmosphere look like it was perfect for a date.

Keith’s lips curled into a soft smile, still kissing Lance. He didn’t need labels, he didn’t need to scream that he was his boyfriend to feel valid. All he wanted was to have Lance around endlessly. To have Lance hug him just like then, his touch tender and sweet, the same as his breath. The same as the whole Lance’s frame.

“I love you,” Lance broke the kiss, almost mouthing the words, but Keith heard him perfectly. They never said that, because it felt like a label and it wasn’t a nice experience. They had already been labeled as many things and another one wasn’t really necessary. But Lance still tasted these three words on his tongue, going with a flow. No, he didn’t think when he said it, but he didn’t regret it either.

Keith looked at him in awe, trying to see what was going on inside Lance’s mind. He could see those perfect, dark blue eyes looking deeper than the ocean, shining and practically smiling. His tanned skin, flushed with a small, faintly red blush all over his cheeks, deepening the sight even more than it was actually possible. Lance’s whole frame was glowing, making Keith proud that he could be by his side, not only then, but every day of their life, hopefully in the future, too.

Keith felt it. He knew it was true, he knew it right after Lance said these three words. So, he didn’t have any other option than to say it back, because he felt it and wanted to.

“Love you, too.”

And so did he.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you very much for reading!!  
> also you can leave suggestions/prompts in the comments  
> im on tumblr @ loverboy-spritz and on twitter @ loverboyspritz if you wanna dm me!!


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